From September 2008, changes were made to the Little Heath and Theale Green buses including a change to the services and revised cost of travel. Here's a bit of background about what was changed and why.
We made significant changes to the way that we operate these services.
This follows a review of the special bus services provided for Little Heath School and Theale Green School last term.
The intention of these changes is to make the services themselves more reliable and attractive to users and also to get them to cover their costs of operation.
The routes have also been renumbered in order to differentiate them from the general network of bus services.
Each route is numbered with an ‘s’ prefix e.g. s85.
A special tariff applies to these routes.
Click here to download 'Your ticket choices - for buses to Little Heath and Theale Green Schools from September 2008'.
We have introduced a NEW 7 day School Plus ticket costing £10 per week.
(The new School Plus ticket is specifically for use on these school services but can also gives free travel on all Reading Buses services across the whole Greater Reading Urban Area)
Please note: Area A and West Reading travelcards are not valid on s-prefixed services
Child single with READI-id card £1.30
Child return with READI-id card - NEW on Theale Green services £2.50
Adult single £1.70
Every child over 14 (and we recommend children aged 11-13 to have one, too) will need a READI-id card. This can be obtained free of charge (for children up to the age of 16 and at a charge of £5 for 16-19 year-olds in full time education) from the Great Knollys Street headquarters of Reading Buses, Customer Services Department. This entitles the child to child-rate travel on all Reading Transport Ltd buses (including Newbury Buses).
Click here to download your READI-id application form
There are two ways to buy the School Plus ticket.
If you already have a READI-id card, you can go to either the Broad Street Mall or to the Customer Services Department of Reading Buses at Great Knollys Street to have the School Plus product loaded onto the READI-id card.
If you don’t have one, you will need to obtain an application form from either the Broad Street Mall or to the Customer Services Department of Reading Buses at Great Knollys Street. This application form has to be completed then posted or taken to the Customer Services Department of Reading Buses at Great Knollys Street where one can be issued and the School Plus product loaded onto the READI-id card.
Once the Smart Card has been issued (1 week costs £10) then it can be used by simply laying the card on the top of the ticket machine on boarding each bus. It is available for any number of trips in the permitted period.
The Smartcard can be recharged on S-Prefix school bus routes only for the purchase of subsequent tickets. The School Plus ticket can only be bought on S-Prefix school buses.
If you want to purchase more than one week’s travel, then this is possible. Simply pay to load more weeks onto the Smartcard, without limit.
Each passenger will need their READI-id card and can then buy a £10 School Plus ticket on the bus. Simply drop £10 into the coin vault and the driver will issue the ticket. This ticket will be valid for 7 days from the date of purchase and is valid on all S-prefix school buses and all other Reading Transport buses in the Greater Reading Urban Area. The School Plus ticket can only be bought on the s-prefix buses.
Click on the school name below to download your leaflet for the 2009/10 Academic Year for full details of the routes and pick-ups on these services:
- Little Heath School
- Theale Green School
Each bus will be operated by a single allocated driver and bus. The driver will be regular on the journey for the whole term (other things being equal).
No, the services were costing us money to operate and West Berkshire Council have indicated they would not be able to subsidise the routes. So the fares have been increased as little as possible for 2008/9, but pitched at a level that will hopefully allow us to cover the costs of operation.
The bus services for Little Heath School and Theale Green School are the largest volume of school bus services in the Reading Transport network. We have been running these at a loss for some considerable time. In view of the absence of subsidies we have to make them commercially viable whilst keeping ticket prices as cheap as possible. Our alternative is not to run these services – we want to avoid this if we can!
Please e-mail customerservices@reading-buses.co.uk or telephone 0118 959 4000.
Great Knollys Street, Reading RG1 7HH